Social gaming developer the Casual Collective is rebranding today as Kixeye and debuting a new game, Battle Pirates, today on Facebook. Battle Pirates is a real time strategy game featuring base building, exploration, and player vs. player combat.

Kixeye’s games are targeted towards hardcore gamers and is betting that Facebook is a platform where these types of gamers will continue to flock to. Kixete games are all free-to-play and monetizes via virtual goods. In addition to Facebook, KIXEYE’s games are also published on the company’s own platform.

Battle Pirates, the company’s newest game, is set in the year 2067 and Earth is covered in water. Due to a terrorist-sparked world war, only a small amount of Earth’s original landmass remains. With a 95% extinction level, the only remaining survivors are split into two factions: the Foresaken, impoverished
survivors who rely on engineering hacks, guerilla warfare and piracy, and the oppressive Draconian Empire, the once elite citizens of the who who’ve now become a giant military complex.

Players are required to build their island base from the ground up and strategically place defensive turrets on their island, research technology and armaments, and create up to 50 deadly ships with a variety of armor, weapons and hulls. By adding friends to their crew, players are rewarded with special in-game bonuses. Then, dominate the world map by engaging in real-time synchronous PvP battles, attacking other players and Draconian fleets for precious resources.

Clearly Kixeye’s games aren’t your Farmville-type lighthearted game. Kixeye’s games are targeted towards heavy gamers on Facebook. And there appears to be a market for this genre of games. The company’s popular game Backyard Monsters has reached over one million active daily users on Facebook. At any given second, there are an average of 40,000 gamers around the world playing the game at once.